Sunday, May 14, 2006

I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets – more of an archeological dig, really – and rediscovered the “Totally Muffins Cookbook.” Sue, my mother-in-law, picked this up for me at a garage sale (along with two sets of pristine, still-in-the-wrapper giant muffin tins. It was awesome. I later went to the same sale and bought an almost new chicken rotisserie for $20).

The big change I made from the recipe listed in the book and below was the type of flour used. I was running low on all purpose but had a full bag of self-rising flour, so I used that instead, omitting the baking powder and salt.

The muffins baked up a bit pale. They could have used more topping to give them a richer hue. That said, these are tasty with a nice, tender crumb, though I’d like them to have more of a cinnamon and sugar punch. If I make them again, I’ll increase both, perhaps adding some brown sugar to the batter. I’d also like to see what would happen if I used glazed pecans instead of the plain in the batter as well.

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast in oven, 7 to 9 minutes. While toasting, grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.

Roughly chop 75-percent of the pecans and set aside. Finely chop the remaining pecans and mix with brown sugar and ¼ tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside for topping.

Cream together butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, stirring only until the flour mixture disappears. Gently fold in roughly-chopped pecans.

Fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle each with a generous amount of topping. Bake approximately 25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let cool five minutes, then remove from pan. Makes 12-14 standard size muffins.